Various electronic devices are mounted on a vehicle or the like, and a wiring harness is routed for supplying electric power, control signal, and the like to the electronic devices. The wiring harness includes: a plurality of electric wires; and a connector, and by fitting the connector to a connector of the electronic devices or a connector of the other wiring harness, the wiring harness is connected to the electronic devices or the other wiring harness.
A typical connector used in such a wiring harness includes: a connector housing; and a terminal received in the connector housing and attached to an end of the electric wire. Various connectors are used according to usage environment and intended use. Further, as a connector, there are a so-called male connector receiving a bar-shaped male terminal, and a so-called female connector receiving a tubular female terminal. These male and female connectors are mechanically and electrically connected to each other by fitting the male and female terminals to each other and by inserting the male terminal into the female terminal.
Further, the connector housing includes: a straight-hole-shaped terminal receiving chamber for receiving the terminal; and a locking lance projected in the terminal receiving chamber and provided elastically deformable for locking the terminal in the terminal receiving chamber. In such a connector, because a short of the locking power by only locking the terminal with the locking lance, the terminal may fall out of the connector housing when the wiring harness is routed around in a production process. For this reason, a connector having a spacer is proposed (for example, see PTL 1) to regularly lock to prevent the terminal from moving so as to prevent the terminal from falling out of the housing in addition to a lock with the locking lance.
As shown in FIGS. 5 to 9, a connector 100 described in PTL 1 is a so-called female connector including: a connector housing 101; a spacer 102; and a female terminal connected to an electric wire W. As shown in FIGS. 7 and 9, this connector 100 is fitted to a mating connector 110 as a so-called male connector including: a connector housing 111; and a mate terminal 112, and mechanically and electrically connected to each other. The connector housing 101 is made of insulating synthetic resin, formed in a box shape as a whole, and includes: a terminal receiving chamber 104 for receiving a female terminal 103; and a spacer receiving chamber 105 for receiving a spacer 102.
A plurality of terminal receiving chambers 104 are provided up and down, left and right parallel to each other, and respectively extended straight. Both ends in a longitudinal direction of the terminal, receiving chamber 104 are open on an end face of the connector housing 101. The female terminal 103 is inserted into the terminal receiving chamber 104 along its longitudinal direction (insertion direction of the terminal), and a locking lance 106 is formed in the terminal receiving chamber 104 at a rear side in the insertion direction. The spacer receiving chamber 105 is formed in a concave shape on one outer wall perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the terminal receiving chamber 104 among a plurality of outer walls of the connector housing 101, and provided crossing the substantially center in the longitudinal direction of the terminal receiving chamber 104.
The spacer 102 is made of insulating synthetic resin or the like, and includes: a spacer main body 107l; and an insertion portion 108 to be inserted into the spacer receiving chamber 105. A regulation portion 107A for preventing the female terminal 103 from falling out by positioning in the upper terminal receiving chamber 104 is formed in the spacer main body 107. An opening 108 through which the female terminal 103 is inserted and a regulation portion 108A for preventing the female terminal 103 from falling out by positioning the lower terminal receiving chamber 104 are formed in the insertion portion 108. As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, when the spacer 102 is inserted into the spacer receiving chamber 105, firstly, a projection 108C of the insertion portion 108 is locked with the connector housing 101 and positioned in a temporary locking position.
While the spacer 102 is positioned in the temporary locking position, the opening 108A of the insertion portion 108 and the upper terminal receiving chamber 104 are communicated with each other, and a lower space of the insertion portion 108 and the lower terminal receiving chamber 104 are communicated with each other, thereby the female terminal 103 is allowed to be inserted into the terminal receiving chamber 104. Then, when the female terminal 103 is inserted into the terminal receiving chamber 104, the locking lance 106 is elastically deformed to lock a concave at a tip of the female terminal 103, in this temporary locking condition of the female terminal 103, when the locking lance 106 is elastically deformed by an extraction jig or the like, the lock with the locking lance 106 is released, and the female terminal 103 is allowed to be pulled out from the connector housing 101.
Then, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, when the spacer 102 positioned in the temporary locking position is further inserted into the spacer receiving chamber 105, the projection 108C of the insertion portion 108 is locked with a concave in the connector housing 101, and positioned in a regular locking position. When the spacer 102 is positioned in the regular locking position, the regulation portion 107A of the spacer main body 107 is projected in the upper terminal receiving chamber 104, and the regulation portion 108B of the insertion portion 108 is projected in the lower terminal receiving chamber 104, thereby the regulation portions 107A, 108B locks a rear end of the female terminal 103. In this way, the spacer 102 positioned in the regular locking position prevents the female terminal 103 from falling out of the connector housing 101.
According to the above connector 100 having a spacer, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, when the spacer 102 is positioned in the temporary locking position, the spacer main body 107 is projected from an upper wall of the connector housing 101, thereby a mating connector 110 cannot be fitted to the connector 100 because the mating connector 110 is abutted on the spacer main body 107. Thus, because the connector 100 and the mating connector 110 cannot be fitted to each other, a middle insertion state of the spacer 102 in which the spacer 102 is in the temporary locking position, and not inserted to the regular locking position can be detected. In contrast, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, when the spacer 102 is inserted to the regular locking position, the spacer main body 107 is not projected from the connector housing 101, thereby the connector 100 and the mating connector 110 can be fitted to each other to be mechanically and electrically connected to each other.